COULD AGUERO BE THE GREATEST EVER?
Record-hunter moving up the charts
SERGIO AGUERO’S place in the pantheon of Premier League goalscorers won’t be clear until the day he leaves Manchester City.
The greatest of them all? Maybe, although time is against him catching up with Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney.
Game by game, however, Aguero continues to edge up the charts.
A week after moving ahead of Teddy Sheringham into 10th place, the brilliant Argentine equalled Shearer’s record at Newcastle of 148 Premier League goals for one club. Only Rooney and Thierry Henry have more.
Aguero’s total in England’s top flight still falls well short of Shearer (260) and Rooney (208) — mainly because he didn’t join City until the age of 23, by which time he had already scored 125 goals for Atletico Madrid and Independiente.
Now aged 30, Aguero will have to get his skates on if he’s going to do it, even though a new contract keeping him at the Etihad until 2021 will help. There’s no reason he couldn’t stay longer, of course, and then Shearer’s record really would be under threat.
‘I think he can reach it,’ said his team-mate Bernardo Silva. ‘He’s got the potential. Every season he keeps scoring more and more. Everyone hopes he stays. If he reaches that level, it will be even better because everyone knows how important Alan Shearer was for English football and for the Premier League.
‘Sergio is the best scorer in Manchester City’s history. He’s a legend not only for City but also for the Premier League — if not the best striker in the world then one of the best. When you look at his career, he has been doing this for more than 10 years. You have to admire players like him that score 30 goals and next season they don’t rest, they want to score 30 or 40 again.’
Silva and Aguero were involved in the build-up to City’s first goal against Brighton, a clinical counter-attack executed by Raheem Sterling. Aguero’s mazy run from halfway led to the second that ended their opponents’ admirable resistance as he got on the end of Sterling’s return pass to score No 148 in the Premier League and No 206 in English football. Shearer retired on 379 club goals overall.
Pep Guardiola immediately substituted his striker, who has been struggling with a foot injury for the past month, to make sure he is fit for tomorrow’s Champions League tie against Hoffenheim in Germany and Sunday’s top- of-the-table clash with Liverpool at Anfield.
Aguero remains one of the few indispensable players in this remarkable City team.
Sterling continues to excel as well. The England winger’s goal and assist here means he has been directly involved in 34 league goals since the start of last season, a record second only to Harry Kane and Mo Salah. On the other flank, Leroy Sane’s performance once again suggested that the penny has dropped with the gifted German star after he missed the World Cup and was left out by Guardiola at the start of the season.
‘I want all my players to be focused,’ said the City boss. ‘Apart from their families, the most important thing in life is to know every single day what you have to do. When they do that there is no problem at all.
‘When they don’t do that, they know what happens.’
The champions are top of the Premier League again and were predictably dominant against a Brighton team that did well just to stay in the game. This was not the day to end a run of 17 away games in the league without a win.
Chris Hughton’s side have faced both Manchester clubs, Liverpool and Tottenham in their opening seven fixtures but now have a much kinder run up to Christmas.
‘We’re not the only team that will probably be better at home than away,’ said Hughton.
‘We have to take a lot of the good things that we showed here into this next series of games.
‘Realistically, if I’m looking at where we can get our points, it’s going to be against teams outside the top six.’
MAN CITY (4-3-3): Ederson 6; Walker 6.5, Laporte 7, Otamendi 6.5, Zinchenko 7; B Silva 7, Fernandinho 6.5, D Silva 7 (Foden 88min); STERLING 8, Aguero 7.5 (Jesus 66, 6), Sane 7 (Mahrez 71, 6). Subs not used: Danilo, Kompany, Stones, Muric. Scorers: Sterling 29, Aguero 65. Manager: Pep Guardiola 7. BRIGHTON (4-5-1): Ryan 7; Montoya 6, Duffy 6, Dunk 6.5, Bong 6.5; Knockaert 5.5 (Jahanbakhsh 78), Propper 6, Kayal 6, Bissouma 5 v.5, March 6 (Izquierdo 83); Locadia 5 (Murray 73, 5.5). Subs not used: Bruno, Balogun, Button, Bernardo. Booked: Knockaert, Duffy, Montoya. Manager: Chris Hughton 6. Referee: Lee Mason 7. Attendance: 54,152.